Turkey people groups, languages and religions

Country: Turkey

Number of People Groups

People Groups Unreached

57 (67.1%)

Progress Level

The Joshua Project Progress Scale is an estimate of the progress of church planting among a people group, people cluster, country or language. The Progress Scale is derived from people group values for percent Evangelical and percent Christian Adherent.

Level	Description	Criteria
1	Unreached - Few evangelicals and few who identify as Christians. Little, if any, history of Christianity.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians <= 5%
2	Minimally reached - Few evangelicals, but significant number who identify as Christians.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 5% and <= 50%
3	Superficially reached - Few evangelicals, but many who identify as Christians. In great need of spiritual renewal and commitment to biblical faith.	Evangelicals <= 2% Professing Christians > 50%
4	Partially reached - Evangelicals have a modest presence.	Evangelicals > 2% and <= 10%
5	Significantly reached - Evangelicals have a significant presence.	Evangelicals > 10%

Total
Population

85,225,000

Population in Unreached

84,567,000 (99.2%)

Largest Religion

Islam (96.3%)

% Christian Adherent

0.55%

% Evangelical

0.03%

Evangelical Annual Growth Rate

1.2%

(Global Rate = 2.6%)

Map Notes

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼

Progress Scale: ●●●●●
☀
= Frontier peoples
People Group ▲	Population this Country	Global Population	Indigenous	Primary Language	Primary Religion	Progress Scale	% Christian Adherent	% Evangelical	Est. Workers Needed *
Abaza	13,000	73,000		Abaza	Islam	1 ●	0.20 %	0.00 %	1
Abkhaz	166,000	306,000	●	Abkhaz	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	3
Adyghe	357,000	717,000		Adyghe	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	7
Afghani, general	184,000	918,000		Dari	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	4
Alawite	561,000	2,287,000	●	Arabic, North Levantine Spoken	Islam	0 ☀	0.03 %	0.01 %	11
Albanian	2,900	5,072,000		Albanian, Gheg	Islam	2 ●	30.00 %	0.55 %	-1 -
Algerian, Arabic-speaking	11,000	36,199,000		Arabic, Algerian Spoken	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Americans, U.S.	13,000	195,885,000		English	Christianity	5 ●	77.00 %	29.00 %	-1 -
Arab, Egyptian	34,000	74,470,000		Arabic, Egyptian Spoken	Islam	4 ●	13.00 %	4.00 %	-1 -
Arab, Iraqi	322,000	19,240,000		Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken	Islam	1 ●	0.50 %	0.20 %	6
Arab, Jordanian	24,000	4,909,000		Arabic, South Levantine Spoken	Islam	1 ●	2.00 %	0.50 %	1
Arab, Lebanese	13,000	6,384,000		Arabic, North Levantine Spoken	Islam	1 ●	0.50 %	0.10 %	1
Arab, Libyan	24,000	2,735,000		Arabic, Libyan Spoken	Islam	1 ●	0.20 %	0.10 %	1
Arab, Moroccan	21,000	29,514,000		Arabic, Moroccan Spoken	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Arab, North Iraqi	587,000	11,192,000		Arabic, North Mesopotamian Spoken	Islam	1 ●	0.50 %	0.10 %	12
Arab, Northern Yemeni	18,000	14,986,000		Arabic, Sanaani Spoken	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Arab, Palestinian	28,000	11,294,000		Arabic, South Levantine Spoken	Islam	1 ●	1.00 %	0.80 %	1
Arab, Sudanese	9,500	18,313,000		Arabic, Sudanese Spoken	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Arab, Syrian	105,000	19,337,000		Arabic, North Levantine Spoken	Islam	1 ●	5.00 %	0.40 %	2
Arab, Tunisian	6,000	11,839,000		Arabic, Tunisian Spoken	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Armenian	69,000	5,946,000		Armenian, Western	Christianity	4 ●	94.00 %	8.00 %	-1 -
Assyrian	28,000	949,000		Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	Christianity	4 ●	95.00 %	2.91 %	-1 -
Austrian, Bavarian	20,000	14,403,000		Bavarian	Christianity	3 ●	65.00 %	0.40 %	-1 -
Azerbaijani, Azeri Turk	69,000	17,860,000		Azerbaijani, South	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Bosniak	114,000	3,125,000		Bosnian	Islam	0 ☀	0.10 %	0.00 %	2
British	16,000	53,765,000		English	Christianity	4 ●	61.00 %	8.00 %	-1 -
Bulgarian	15,000	6,854,000		Bulgarian	Christianity	3 ●	80.00 %	1.90 %	-1 -
Chechen	113,000	1,719,000		Chechen	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	2
Deaf	427,000	49,091,000	●	Turkish Sign Language	Islam	1 ●	0.21 %	-1	9
Dutch	7,700	13,785,000		Dutch	Non-Religious	4 ●	48.00 %	4.20 %	-1 -
Filipino, Tagalog	4,000	39,978,000		Tagalog	Christianity	5 ●	96.00 %	15.00 %	-1 -
French	4,300	50,328,000		French	Christianity	3 ●	63.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Gagauz	5,300	152,000		Gagauz	Christianity	3 ●	90.00 %	2.00 %	-1 -
Gajal, Gadzhal	18,000	18,000	●	Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Georgian	19,000	3,164,000		Georgian	Christianity	3 ●	55.00 %	0.50 %	-1 -
German	103,000	66,222,000		German, Standard	Christianity	4 ●	65.00 %	2.10 %	-1 -
Greek	13,000	10,511,000		Greek	Christianity	3 ●	91.00 %	0.40 %	-1 -
Han Chinese, Mandarin	20,000	925,767,000		Chinese, Mandarin	Non-Religious	4 ●	6.00 %	5.70 %	-1 -
Hemshin	23,000	26,000	●	Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Herki	43,000	112,000	●	Kurdish, Northern	Islam	1 ●	0.30 %	0.00 %	1
Hertevin	1,300	1,300	●	Hertevin	Christianity	3 ●	100.00 %	0.00 %	-1 -
Hungarian	800	12,013,000		Hungarian	Christianity	4 ●	89.00 %	2.80 %	-1 -
Italian	1,900	37,757,000		Italian	Christianity	3 ●	83.00 %	1.10 %	-1 -
Jew, Spanish	13,000	60,000		Turkish	Ethnic Religions	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Jew, Turkish	1,500	50,000	●	Turkish	Ethnic Religions	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Kabardian	1,196,000	2,033,000	●	Kabardian	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	24
Karachay	21,000	251,000		Karachay-Balkar	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Karakalpak	84,000	913,000		Karakalpak	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	2
Kazakh, Qazaqi	39,000	17,864,000		Kazakh	Islam	0 ☀	0.10 %	0.03 %	1
Kumyk	1,600	512,000		Kumyk	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Kurd, Kurmanji	9,200,000	16,404,000	●	Kurdish, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.00 %	184
Kurd, Turkish-speaking	6,376,000	6,376,000	●	Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.00 %	128
Kyrgyz	27,000	5,840,000		Kyrgyz	Islam	1 ●	5.00 %	0.70 %	1
Laz, Lazuri	105,000	107,000	●	Laz	Islam	1 ●	2.00 %	0.20 %	2
Lezgin	3,400	830,000		Lezgi	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Macedonian	46,000	1,959,000		Macedonian	Christianity	3 ●	65.00 %	0.20 %	-1 -
Moldovans	7,500	3,205,000		Romanian	Christianity	4 ●	70.00 %	4.00 %	-1 -
Ossette	42,000	588,000		Ossetic	Islam	2 ●	6.00 %	0.30 %	-1 -
Persian	129,000	43,567,000	●	Persian, Iranian	Islam	1 ●	0.30 %	0.10 %	3
Pomak	394,000	493,000	●	Bulgarian	Islam	1 ●	2.00 %	0.40 %	8
Pontic Greek	5,100	388,000	●	Pontic	Islam	1 ●	5.00 %	0.00 %	1
Romani, Balkan	74,000	1,164,000		Romani, Balkan	Islam	1 ●	4.50 %	0.50 %	1
Romani, Domari	35,000	3,743,000	●	Domari	Islam	1 ●	1.00 %	0.20 %	1
Romanian	10,000	21,453,000		Romanian	Christianity	4 ●	97.00 %	5.40 %	-1 -
Russian	67,000	134,115,000		Russian	Christianity	3 ●	68.00 %	1.20 %	-1 -
Serb	9,800	8,614,000		Serbian	Christianity	3 ●	80.00 %	0.60 %	-1 -
Shikaki	26,000	57,000	●	Kurdish, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Somali	28,000	25,554,000		Somali	Islam	1 ●	0.40 %	0.30 %	1
Spaniard	1,200	29,748,000		Spanish	Christianity	3 ●	65.00 %	1.00 %	-1 -
Syrian Aramaic, Turoyo	74,000	179,000	●	Turoyo	Christianity	3 ●	88.00 %	0.90 %	-1 -
Tajik	8,000	10,439,000		Tajik	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Tatar	29,000	6,377,000		Tatar	Islam	1 ●	0.50 %	0.00 %	1
Tatar, Crimean	112,000	589,000		Crimean Tatar	Islam	0 ☀	0.05 %	0.01 %	2
Turk	61,142,000	66,709,000	●	Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.01 %	0.00 %	1,223
Turk, Meskhetian	23,000	306,000	●	Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Turkmen	124,000	8,551,000		Turkmen	Islam	1 ●	1.50 %	0.00 %	2
Ukrainian	23,000	34,779,000		Ukrainian	Christianity	4 ●	76.00 %	4.00 %	-1 -
Urdu	25,000	2,123,000		Urdu	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Uyghur	25,000	12,311,000		Uyghur	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Uzbek, Southern	71,000	4,748,000		Uzbek, Southern	Islam	1 ●	0.50 %	0.10 %	1
Wolof	2,700	6,450,000		Wolof	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Yazidi	2,800	782,000	●	Kurdish, Northern	Ethnic Religions	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	1
Yoruk	470,000	475,000	●	Balkan Gagauz Turkish	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	9
Zaza-Alevi	208,000	263,000	●	Zazaki, Northern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	4
Zaza-Dimli	1,309,000	1,309,000	●	Zazaki, Southern	Islam	0 ☀	0.00 %	0.00 %	26
Totals: 85	85,225,000					57 ●	0.55 %	0.03 %	1,709
Unclassified / Other Individuals	116,000
UN Country Population (2022)	85,341,000

Other minor groups: 3

Turkey

Very small groups reported, but outside the Joshua Project Small Group Policy. Some may not be viable and/or have incorrect Progress Scale values, population, language and religion information. The groups listed below are not included in overall Joshua Project people group counts. If you have information about these groups, please contact us.

Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
People Group ▲	Progress Scale	Population	Primary Language	Primary Religion
Chaldean, Neo-Aramaic	2 ●	300	Chaldean Neo-Aramaic	Christianity
Estonian	2 ●	-1 Unknown	Estonian	Christianity
Lak, Laki	1 ●	400	Lak	Islam
Totals: 3

For more information see the Joshua Project Small Group Policy

* An estimate of the number of pioneer workers needed for initial church planting among unreached people groups by country. Estimates are calculated only for unreached people groups and are based on ratio of 1 worker-unit (single person or married couple) per 50,000 living in an unreached people group by country, or for example one team of four worker-units per 200,000 people. Some workers may already be onsite. Many more workers are needed beyond this initial estimate.

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Province ▲	Estimated Population
Adana	2,190,000
Adiyaman	605,000
Afyon	714,000
Agri	555,000
Aksaray	326,000
Amasya	326,000
Ankara	5,206,000
Antalya	5,206,000
Ardahan	102,000
Artvin	172,000
Aydin	1,053,000
Balikesir	1,202,000
Bartın	191,000
Batman	564,000
Bayburt	82,000
Bilecik	212,000
Bingol	269,000
Bitlis	342,000
Bolu	288,000
Burdur	260,000
Bursa	2,818,000
Canakkale	518,000
Cankiri	186,000
Corum	533,000
Denizli	990,000
Diyarbakir	1,653,000
Duzce	360,000
Edirne	404,000
Elazıg	575,000
Erzincan	226,000
Erzurum	771,000
Eskisehir	821,000
Gaziantep	1,910,000
Giresun	435,000
Gumushane	148,000
Hakkari	279,000
Hatay	1,537,000
Igdır	194,000
Isparta	424,000
Istanbul	14,534,000
Izmir	4,158,000
K. Maras	1,101,000
Karabuk	234,000
Karaman	243,000
Kars	299,000
Kastamonu	373,000
Kayseri	1,336,000
Kilis	130,000
Kinkkale	284,000
Kirklareli	348,000
Kirsehir	225,000
Kocaeli	1,742,000
Konya	2,132,000
Kutahya	578,000
Malatya	778,000
Manisa	1,383,000
Mardin	798,000
Mersin	1,746,000
Mugla	905,000
Mus	415,000
Nevsehir	289,000
Nigde	348,000
Ordu	732,000
Osmaniye	513,000
Rize	334,000
Sakarya	943,000
Samsun	1,284,000
Sanliurfa	1,866,000
Siirt	321,000
Sinop	207,000
Sirnak	494,000
Sivas	630,000
Tekirdag	917,000
Tokat	605,000
Trabzon	775,000
Tunceli	88,000
Usak	353,000
Van	1,098,000
Yalova	229,000
Yozgat	438,000
Zinguldak	606,000
Provinces: 81	81,459,000
UN Country Population	85,341,000

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Click column headings for sorting ▲▼
Language ▲	Code	# Peoples w/ this Primary Language	# Unreached w/ this Primary Language	Scripture Status	NT Text Online	NT Audio Online	Jesus Film Online	Audio Recordings Online	Gospel Tract Online
Abaza	abq	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Abkhaz	abk	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	-1	-1
Adyghe	ady	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	1
Albanian, Gheg	aln	1	0	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	1
Arabic, Algerian Spoken	arq	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	1
Arabic, Egyptian Spoken	arz	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Arabic, Libyan Spoken	ayl	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	1	1	-1	1
Arabic, Mesopotamian Spoken	acm	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	1
Arabic, Moroccan Spoken	ary	1	1	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	1
Arabic, North Levantine Spoken	apc	3	3	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	-1	1	1
Arabic, North Mesopotamian Spoken	ayp	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	1
Arabic, Sanaani Spoken	ayn	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	1	1
Arabic, South Levantine Spoken	ajp	2	2	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	1
Arabic, Sudanese Spoken	apd	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	1
Arabic, Tunisian Spoken	aeb	1	1	4 New Testament	1	-1	1	1	1
Armenian, Western	hyw	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	aii	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Azerbaijani, South	azb	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Balkan Gagauz Turkish	bgx	1	1	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Bavarian	bar	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	-1	-1	1	-1
Bosnian	bos	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	-1	1	1	1
Bulgarian	bul	2	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Chechen	che	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Chinese, Mandarin	cmn	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Crimean Tatar	crh	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Dari	prs	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Domari	rmt	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Dutch	nld	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
English	eng	2	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
French	fra	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Gagauz	gag	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	-1	-1
Georgian	kat	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
German, Standard	deu	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Greek	ell	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Hertevin	hrt	1	0	0 Unspecified	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Hungarian	hun	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Italian	ita	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Kabardian	kbd	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	-1
Karachay-Balkar	krc	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	-1
Karakalpak	kaa	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Kazakh	kaz	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Kumyk	kum	1	1	4 New Testament	1	1	1	1	1
Kurdish, Northern	kmr	4	4	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Kyrgyz	kir	1	1	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Laz	lzz	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	-1	1	-1
Lezgi	lez	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	-1
Macedonian	mkd	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Ossetic	oss	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	-1
Persian, Iranian	pes	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Pontic	pnt	1	1	1 Translation Needed	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Romani, Balkan	rmn	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	-1	1	1	-1
Romanian	ron	2	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Russian	rus	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Serbian	srp	1	0	5 Complete Bible	-1	1	1	1	1
Somali	som	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Spanish	spa	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Tagalog	tgl	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Tajik	tgk	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Tatar	tat	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Turkish	tur	7	7	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Turkish Sign Language	tsm	1	1	2 Translation Started	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
Turkmen	tuk	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Turoyo	tru	1	0	4 New Testament	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Ukrainian	ukr	1	0	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Urdu	urd	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	1
Uyghur	uig	1	1	5 Complete Bible	1	1	1	1	-1
Uzbek, Southern	uzs	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	1
Wolof	wol	1	1	4 New Testament	-1	1	1	1	-1
Zazaki, Northern	kiu	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	-1	1	1	-1
Zazaki, Southern	diq	1	1	3 Bible Portions	-1	1	-1	-1	-1
Totals:	70	85	57		35	53	60	62	43

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Turkey Statistics
People Groups	85
Unreached People Groups	57 (67.1%)
Population	85,225,000
Population Annual Growth Rate	1.0%
Population in Unreached	84,567,000 (99.2%)
Primary Religion	Islam
Percent Christian Adherent	0.6%
Percent Evangelical	0.0%
Evangelical Annual Growth Rate	1.2%
Pioneer Workers Needed *	1,709
Country Progress Level	1 ●
Urbanization	75%
Continent	Asia
Region	Asia, Central
10/40 Window	Yes
Country Code	TU
Official Language(s)	Turkish
Literacy Rate	96%
Estimated Illiterate Population	3,409,000
Persecution Ranking	42 (1=Highest) Open Doors

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Turkey Links
Operation World
Stratus Earth Index
Prosperity Index
Social Progress Index
Open Doors Persecution Ranking
World Factbook
Religious Freedom Report
UN Human Development Report
Ethnologue Language Listing
National Bible Society

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